Recommender Logistics Question

[DivSchoolHopeful1942]

Are faculty reading applications usually understanding if a recommender is late with their letter due to a personal emergency? My advisor—who is also one of my recommenders—is taking a last-minute leave of absence and will be mostly unavailable. This individual is a pretty big name in academic religious studies so I'm not sure whether, because most of the faculty probably know this individual personally, they'd be understanding about potential lateness in their letter of recommendation for me. Or should I just find a new recommender?

Sorry for the vague question. Just trying not to give too much info away.

[xypathos]

On 8/17/2023 at 10:28 AM, DivSchoolHopeful1942 said:

Are faculty reading applications usually understanding if a recommender is late with their letter due to a personal emergency? My advisor—who is also one of my recommenders—is taking a last-minute leave of absence and will be mostly unavailable. This individual is a pretty big name in academic religious studies so I'm not sure whether, because most of the faculty probably know this individual personally, they'd be understanding about potential lateness in their letter of recommendation for me. Or should I just find a new recommender?

Sorry for the vague question. Just trying not to give too much info away.

It's school dependent. Enough schools get enough applications that they refuse to read an application until it's complete, often their website will specify if this is their policy. You're always welcome to email/call the school and inquire about your situation. When I was applying for M.Div programs I had a similar situation. They let me submit a "backup" recommendation and once my straggler submitted, I told them who to drop and they deleted the spare recc from my application.